


a raindrop falls from the sky (a heart beats softly)

by ProwlingThunder



Series: The Everlasting List of Shenanigans [215]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fair Trades, Feelings, Gen, Rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 20:12:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14755550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProwlingThunder/pseuds/ProwlingThunder
Summary: Inside the King's Wall, all the rain is artificial.





	a raindrop falls from the sky (a heart beats softly)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ninemoons42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninemoons42/gifts).



> Title taken from the _Critters'_ [Don't Let The Rain Fall Down On Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reZzptq9IlM).
> 
> Prompted by ninemoons42, who asked for Ignis and rain.

In Insomnia, rain is predictable, tractable by the week and month, always raining precisely when it is supposed to. Being a weatherman inside Insomnia is not easy, of course; no one can say _the sky will be clear and the sun will shine_ with entirely accurate results, no one controls the actions of the weather so strongly. But rain...

Inside the King's Wall, all the rain is artificial. Ignis shook out his umbrella under the overhang, folded it up and let it vanish into the Armiger without so much as a blink. Unlike many citizens in the city, he had that luxury, but it wasn't as if rain could catch them unaware. It was regular and scheduled weeks in advance, different areas receiving more or less at a given time, more or less often than others, all of it based on scientific data and a whole host of individuals playing with hydroponics. Ignis didn't pretend to know all the details of the water distribution systems in full, only the bare basics. _Much_ easier to let people who knew what they were doing do their own jobs, and leave him to his own.

Though, he was reluctant to admit as he greeted the doorman and made his way into the apartment complex, today _hadn't_ had much of a warning. King Regis had decided at the last possible moment that it would rain all day today, in every district; Ignis' himself had been tasked with ferrying the information to the weather agency, arriving just in time to get it on the evening report.

The sun hadn't had the good graces to hide its face today, however, so it managed to be Bright and Sunny while also being _wet_ and _miserable_ in addition to the choking warmth _._ The dissonance between the two has managed to keep him on edge since dawn, and as the day draws longer, it does not manage to dissipate. He had been dismissed from high court today-- dismissed from the Citadel entirely, with the air that said _do not come back until you are called._

It wasn't the type of thing that happened often. Once in a great while, and even then only when His Majesty wanted very specific people kept out of the Citadel for the day. Once, he had been dismissed with the unspoken task of keeping Noctis occupied while the ballroom was undergoing a grand makeover in honor of his birthday, which somehow everyone had managed to keep a secret that an _event_ was being made of it. Oh, Noctis had forgiven him eventually, but at the time...

He hesitated outside the Prince's apartment, adding up every little tidbit he had learned from past experiences and the very few rumors he had heard while in the Citadel. It didn't come up very reassuring.

 _Surely the King has his reasons,_ Ignis decided, and let himself into the apartment. He had cleared Noctis' schedule and called on Prompto, inviting him over to his Highness' quarters for a day of videogames and relaxation. Gladio would be joining them later on, and Prompto had, by the sound of things, not yet arrived. That was good. That would give him time to get some food and medication into the younger man; days like today were no good for his pain, and Ignis hadn't had enough warning to do any of the normal things for him the day before. _Hindsight,_ as it were.

 

(Months from now, Ignis will look up at the sky, into dark clouds that always seem to gather before it rains. Noctis hurts less, these days, but he hurts all the time instead, and Ignis does not consider this a fair trade.)

 

(Months from now, Ignis will turn his nose into the sky and the warm rain of summer will caress his skin like tongues of flame, the rain of winter will bite into flesh and chill him blessedly all the way to the bone. But Noctis will live, and breathe, and they both ache, now.)

 

(Years from now Ignis will hear rain from the mouth of a tomb, or outside the tent, or pattering on the window. Now is the opposite of Insomnia: the sun never shines, whether it rains or not.)

 

(Years from now Ignis will stand in Insomnia and tilt his face into the rays of dawn breaking, and the rain from the night before will dry beneath his boots. These days, Ignis hurts all the time, but Noctis hurts not at all any longer. It is a fair trade, but not the one he wished for.)


End file.
